January 7, 2010. Posted by Brandy Wood.

WBGO Jazz 88.3FM will broadcast the 2010 NEA Jazz Masters Awards Ceremony & Concert taking place on Tuesday, January 12 at 7:30PM in the Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center at Broadway at 60th Street. The performance will feature the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis in a program dedicated to the 2010 honorees’ works.

Joining the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will be many of the honorees themselves including Muhal Richard Abrams, Bill Holman (as guest conductor), Annie Ross, and Cedar Walton. Also featured will be 2010 Jazz Master Kenny Barron on solo piano and 2010 Jazz Master Yusef Lateef with percussionist Adam Pudolph. George Avakian will receive the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy.

Twenty-six fellow NEA Jazz Masters will be in the audience, including Toshiko Akiyoshi, Ornette Coleman, Paquito d’Rivera, Ramsey Lewis, and Dr. Billy Taylor. The broadcast will be co-hosted by WBGO’s Gary Walker and Sirius/XM’sMark Ruffin, and carried on both WBGO and Sirius/XM’s Real Jazz channel.

June 30, 2009. Posted by Brandy Wood.

On Sunday, June 28, WBGO's Josh Jackson hosted a great concert at Central Park SummerStage. The performance began with New Orleans pianist Jonathan Batiste, who paid homage to the late Michael Jackson in both song and attire. Bassist Esperanza Spalding followed with a set that ran the gamut of funk to soul to Ella inspired scat.

Closing the performance was rising star of soul and jazz, Ledisi (LED-ih-see as she pointed out several times from the stage and in cards handed out after the show). If the pronunciation of her name is a little confusing, there is no confusion what so ever about her voice or her command of the stage.

There are a great number of WBGO partner events this summer, many of them at no cost. Please visit the WBGO Events page for full details.